- Elliotte Friedman and Kevin Bieksa’s Sportsnet contracts expired with no new deals signed
- Sportsnet already moved on from Kelly Hrudey while Ron MacLean is set to return
- Read below for what Jonah Sigel reported and where the two could land
Hockey Night in Canada’s two biggest names are on the open market.
Elliotte Friedman and Kevin Bieksa both watched their Sportsnet contracts expire Monday without new deals in place. The NHL’s most-read insider and its most popular analyst are free agents with the 2026-27 season three weeks out.
Sports media reporter Jonah Sigel was asked about the pair as the deadline came and went, and he confirmed nothing had been finalized on either side:
None of that rules out a return. Rogers can still re-sign either man, and that remains the likeliest outcome. Letting both walk to free agency is still an odd way to open the first year of the network’s new national rights deal.
All of this is happening while Sportsnet reworks the rest of its hockey coverage. Kelly Hrudey was not renewed earlier this summer, Jennifer Botterill is reportedly unlikely to be back on Saturdays, and Ron MacLean is returning for a 41st season.
Bieksa and Friedman were in Milano Cortina together in February, walking around the Olympics with matching Canadian broadcast credentials around their necks. Six months later, neither one has a job lined up for October.
Sigel had flagged the holdup a week earlier and added a wrinkle about where the two might end up:
Amazon has been expanding its Monday night NHL package in Canada, and TSN, TNT and ESPN would all clear room for either name. Friedman’s 32 Thoughts brand travels with him wherever he goes.
Rogers starts a new national rights deal this season with Hrudey gone, MacLean back, and its two most recognizable hockey voices unsigned.
